Air-compressor system for oil-engines.



J. GOGHAUI). AIR COMPRESSOR SYSTEM FOR 01L ENGINES. APPLICATION I'ILED AUG. 5, 1911.

2 321 Patented July 7,1914,

2 SHEETS-BHBBT 1.

J. OOGHAUD; AIR COMPRESSOR SYSTEM FOR OIL ENGINES. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 5, 1911.

1,102,321 Patented July 7, 1 14,

3 8HBETS-SHEET 2.

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' unrrnn s'ra'rns PATENT orrrcn.

JULES CQCHAUD, OF ZURICH,

SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 BUSCH-SULZER BROS.-

DIESEL ENGINE COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

AIR-COIlIIPIRESSOB SYSTEM FOR OIL-ENGINES.

To all whom it may concern Be it knownthat I, JULEs Goormnn, a citizen of Switzerland, residing at 19 Klausstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland,.have invented the Improvements in Air-Compressor Systems for Oil-Engines set forth in the following specification.

The invention is an improvement in Q-cycle oil engines of the type wherein air is compressed by mechanism directly coupled to the engine crankshaft for the purpose of atomizing and injecting the fuel as well as for scavenging the cylinder or for other purposes, the fuel injection air being compressed in two or more stages; and the invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the several compressor cylinders and the other parts, and in the proportion of the same and their relation to the engine crank-shaft whereby the said engine and compressor mechanism are adapted to run at high speeds without injurious vibration and whereby there also results an equalization of the crank effort in' the driving of the compressor mechanism.

The invention also provides a disposition of the compressor cylinders which occupies the least space and readily conforms in its general dimensions to the size and shape of the combustion cylinders of the engine proper, thereby enabling a series of four or more of such cylinders to be supplied with all the compressed air necessary for their operation by means of mechanism not substantially differing in size or general appearance from the cylinders themselves.

In the drawings orming part hereof the invention is illustrated in diagram in Figure 1, which shows the relation of the com pressor cylinders and their connections to the combustion cylinder. Fig. 2. shows a modified form also in diagram and Fig. 3 shows a vertical section, through the axis of the scavenging cylinder, of an actual construction wherein the injection air for the fuel is compressed in three stages.

The engine crank-shaft is marked 1, being journaled onlthe bed plate 2 and'is pro vided with a crank 3 and pitman 4 by which the several compressor plungers are oper- Speoiflcation of Letters Patent. Application filed August 5, 1911. Serial No. 642,435.

Patented July 7, 1914.

ated. A crank case 5 surrounds the crank and may form the support for the compressor cylinders of which there are several, corresponding tothe number of degrees of compression required for the production of the necessary compressed air. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the cylinder 6 of lowest pressure and largest volume is unjacketed'and mounted directly upon the top of the cylinder 7 which is of smaller volume and water-jacketed. The two cylinders are in axial alinement, and. with the \vaterjacket, the cylinder 7 is sulmtantially of the same diameter as the cylinder (3, as shown in Fig. 3. It will be understood that directly behind these two superposed cylinders is arranged the series of upright combustion cylinders, all perpendicular to the crankshaft 4 with their several pistons connected to the latter whereby the same is rotated in the usual manner. These parts are of ordinary construction and hence omitted from the drawings being concealed by the cylinders (3 and T and the water jacket of the latter. The larger cylinder, (5, intended to produce the air of lowest pressure, which is used. for scavcngingthe combustion cylinders, and this cylinder 6 is provided with suction valves 8, at its opposite ends, leading from the atmosphere and corresponding discharge valves 9 with pipes 10 which lead to any suitable container in proper communication with the scavenging ports of the engine cylinder. The plunger (4 of the scavenging air cylinder is doubleacting and mounted on a plunger rod ll which passes through a gland in the lower head of the cylinder 6, into the cylinder 7 where it is connected to the plunger 0 of thatcylindcr and-the plunger 0 is directly connected to the pitrnan 4 above referred to, whereby both plungers are simultaneously and equally reciprocated by the engine crank-shaft, the lower serving as a crosshead for the former. The lower cylinder .7 is provided at its upper end with a suction valve 12 leading from the atmosphere. or if desired, from the container above referred to, and also with a discharge valve 13 which communicates with a pipe h. Its plunger e is single-acting, in the form of the invention shown in Fig, 3 and shown diagrammatically in F ig. 1, so that on the upstroke of the pitman at the two plungers are both acting to compress air, while on the down stroke only one of them is so acting.

The pipe or conduit it leads to the waterjacketed cylinder 9 used for the second stage of. the compression of injection air, which cylinder is mounted adjacent to and preferably parallel with the two cylinders above referred to, and supports the Water jacketed cylinder 14, the latter being preferably formed as an upward continuation of the cylinder 9 but of smaller diameter and representing the final or third stage of compression of the fuel injection air. The plungers Z and 15 for the 2nd and 3rd stage cylinders are or may be formed in one piece of two diameters corresponding to their respective cylinders and are bothsingle-acting and connected to be driven by the engine crank-shaft in opposition to the low pres sure pistons a and above referred to. The connections for this purpose may consist of an equal-arm rocking lever 0 connected to the plunger Z by means of the link 79 and to the pitman 4 by means of another link n, so that the upward stroke of the low pressure plungers a and e is substantially equal to the down stroke of the plungers Z and 15 and vice versa. The air duct 71 leads to the upper end of the second stage cylinder and the air is forced therefrom through discharge valve 16 and the pipe 17 to the upper end of cylinder 14 of the other stage, being thence conducted through any suitable valve mechanism and piping to the fuel valve of the engine. Thediagram of Fig. 1 represents exactly the same arrangement of compressor cylinders, except that the injection air is compressed to the desired pressure by two instead of three stages; the plunger Z being a single plunger of uniform diameter arranged to compress the air received from the pipe 71 directly into the pipe 2' which leads to the fuel valve.

The latter is marked 7c in this figure and its combustion cylinder is marked 6, it being understood that there are several of these cylinders each supplied with similar fuel valves, although only one appears in the diagram, and also that the pistons of these cylinders all act on the crank-shaft 4.

In oil engines of the type referred to the momentum of the relatively large. and therefore heavy piston n of the double-acting scavenging compressor becomes extremely great when the engine is run at the high speeds required for instance in marine propulsion, the effect of this momentum being -increased by the fact that the scavenging compressor works with very low pressure, that is to say by the fact that the increase of the pressure toward the ends of the pumping strokes exerts little or no reducing influence upon the effects of the masses. The vibration thus produced works severe injury to the entire power plant, practically the compression of the injection air is brought into use-to reduce the effect of therapidly moving mass of the scavenging air plunger, at each of its strokes. Thus in Fig. the upstroke of the piston a is made again-st the compression of the lowest or first stage of the compression of injection air compressed. by plunger 6 and the downstrokc is made against the compression of the two other stages of compression of the injection air as will be readily understood. Moreover the relative areas of the plungers acting on the up and down strokesarc so proportioned that the retarding influence to which the scavenging plunger is subjected onits upstroke is substantially equal to that to which it is subjected on its downstroke and the crank efforts of the crank 3 are thus substantially equalized so that the load on the engine crank-shaft is thus preserved uniform resulting in conditions best adapted for high speeds. The division of the in jection air plungers and cylinders into groups, with the rocking lever connection 4 driving the group 1, results in relieving the crank pin 3 of a portion of the tangential inertia efforts. In the diagrammatic representation of Fig. l which produces only two stage compression of the injection air, the conditions are the same, since the area of the final (second) stage compression plunger Z in conjunction with the relatively uglier pressure of the air with which it deals is substantially equal in its retarding effect to the load on the first stage plunger 7, so that the momentum of the lower pres sure and double-acting scavenging-air plunger is correspondingly and equally balanced without shock or vibration.

In the modified form of Fig. 2 the conditions and connections are the same as already described except that here the plunger e is double-acting, being formed as a so-called difi'erential piston. In its upstroke it opposes the monientum of the scavenging plunger 11 by the compression of air by its upper and relatively large face and in its down stroke by the compression of air by its annular lower face working in the space r and supplemented by the retarding force of the auxiliary plunger Z. The lower annular plunger face working in the space 1" may represent the second stage of the'compression of the injection air and the auxiliary cylinder 9 and plunger 1 the third or final compression, but in any case the work to be done by the upwardly and downwardly working plungers will be substan tially equal to preserve the desired balance permitting high speeds. In both instances the low pressure stage of the injection air pump is disposed in coaxial alinement with the double-acting scavenging pump and between the same and the crank which drives the whole compressor mechanism. This relative disposition of the parts is of special advantage in the successful operation of the system. i

In the foregoing exemplifications of the invention the upstroke and downstroke cylinders and plungers are arranged in the same plane transverse to the engine crankshaft and preferably at one end of the latter, and the cylinders of the fuel injection air are all water-jacketed whereas the scavenging air cylinder is not water-cooled. The air which is supplied from the latter cylinder scavenges the combustion cylinders and also serves as the air charge which is or may be compressed therein to the desired ignition temperature of the fuel as in the case of engine of the Diesel type.

Having described my invention, I claim the following: a

1. In a Q-cycle oil-engine the combination with the engine crank-shaft of air compressor mechanism driventhereby and com prising a double-acting low pressure and rclm tively large volume cylinder with a plunger therein, a series of two or more cylinders with plungers adapted to compress air in several stages to a higher-pressure and mechanism for connecting said latter plungers with the low pressure double-acting plunger to counteract and balance the effects of the momentum of the said low pressure plunger, one of said plungers being connected in coaxial alinement with the low pressure plunger, between the same and the crank driving the compressor mechanism.

2. In a 2cycle oil-engine the combination of the engine crank shaft having a crank thereon, a pitman connected to said crank, a large volume, low pressure. plunger driven by the pitman and a/cylinder therefor, a series of plungers and cylinders acting to compress air in successive stages to a rela tively higher pressure, said latter plungers being divided in groups and the said groups being respectively connected to thepitman to work on the up and down strokes thereof, whereby the work done by the latter plungers counteracts the momentum of the low pressure plunger in both directions of its movement, one of said groups being connected in coaxial alinement with said low pressure plunger, between the same and said pitman.

3. In a 2cycle oil-engine, the combination with the engine crank shaft having a crank for driving air compressor mechanism, of said air compressor mechanism connected with said crank and comprising a doubleacting scavenging air cylinder and a plunger therein, a plurality of cylinders arranged to compress the fuel injection air in two or more stages, and plungers in the latter cylinders connected with the plunger of the scavenging cylinder to work on the opposite strokes of the same to counteract the mo mcntum thereof in its opposite strokes.

4-. In a Q-cycle oil-engine, air compressor mechanism comprising two or more cylinders with plungers adapted for compressing air for fuel injection in a corresponding number of stages, and a scavenging air cylinder and plunger mounted coaxially with and upon one of said cylinders and its plunger, in combination with the engine crankshaft and connections therewith for operating the said plungers, the organization of the said connections being such that the fuel injection plungers coiipe 'ate with the scavenging plunger to counteract the momentum of the latter in both its directions of movement.

5. In a Q-cycle oil-engine, air compressing mechanism comprising two or more cylinders with plungers adapted for compressing fuel injection air in a corresponding number of stages, and a scavenging cylinder mounted upon the lowest stage injection air cylinder with its plunger coaxially connected with the plunger of the latter, in combination with the. engine crank-shaft, a pitman connecting the same with the aforesaid connected plungers and a rocking-lever connecting said plungers with the other plunger or plungers to cause the same to work in alternation thereto.

6. In a Q-cycle oil-engine having a plurality of parallel combustion cylinders and a J1. nrcaeer 5 axially with the scavenging air pump hetWeen the same and said cranlr the remaining stage or stages of the ingestion air pump being located at one slde and being provlded 'With connections whereby they are driven 10 by the crank in opposite directions to the scavenging air pump and said low pressure stage of the injection air pump.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two Witnesses.

J. eoonr'nnn.

Witnesses I CARL GUemn, ninecsr Rinses. 

